In the market of photofinishing, photofinishers tend to be fragmented into small shops. A processing factory so-called a lab is rapidly on changed to mini-labs which each processes light-sensitive materials at the storefront. Recently, such the tendency is increasingly accelerated. The storefront processing is diffused to various shops such as a supermarket or a drugstore other than photo shops.
Such the trend is to meet requirements of consumers that the finished picture can be received on the same day or the processing is finished during shopping and can be received on his way home. Such the demand for a rapid processing is increasingly raised.
In addition, a processor is operated by a part-timer or layman, not professional operator, when the processing is performed in a non-professional shop or an office. Accordingly, it becomes important that the processor can be operated without feeling of the presence of a liquid and easily maintained, and that the processor is made compact from the viewpoint of the space for install of the processor.
In the processing using a processor, a replenishing system is usually applied, in which a light-sensitive material is automatically immersed in a processing tank, and a replenishing solution is replenished to the processing tank responding to the processed area of the light-sensitive material. The processing solution is overflowed by the replenishing and a steady state of running is formed. Consequently, The processing has to be controlled since the running state is varied depending on the kind of the light-sensitive material and a processed amount per day of the light-sensitive material. Therefore, a check piece so called a control strip which is a strip of light-sensitive material given a standard exposure, is developed on every day, and the processing is controlled according to the comparison of the density of the processed control strip with a standard density.
Various methods have been proposed for omitting such the complicated and professional control, in which the developing processing solution is supplied only in an amount to be used on the light-sensitive material so as to eliminate the tank. For example, Japanese Patent Publication Open for Public Inspection (JP O.P.I.) No. 2-79841 proposes a system in which the processing is performed by a processing solution absorbed in a sponge, JP O.P.I. No. 2-79844 proposes a system in which a processing solution is supplied through a slit-shaped supplying outlet, and JP O.P.I. No. 9-43814 proposes a system in which a developing processing solutions supplied through a gas phase.